There is no chalk for the class clown to slip inside any erasers in Sarah Coletta’s Haverford High School classroom. That tired prank is as long-gone as the chalkboards themselves.

Yet, even the whiteboard markers sat unused last Thursday as Coletta asked her ninth grade algebra class to solve a series of questions. Most students did not have a pencil or paper in front of them, either.

Instead, the 17 students each intently stared at the iPad Mini in their hands, using an app to complete a problem Coletta had forwarded to the entire class from her own device. Using the iPad’s touchscreen, the students needed nothing more than their index finger to write out their answers.

On her own mobile device, the teacher can monitor each student as he or she attempts the problem. With a simple tap, Coletta also can project any of her students’ work onto a Smart Board for the entire class to view.

The iPad Minis, utilized two or three times a week, create a learning environment that is more “streamlined and seamless,” Coletta said. She also has noticed students who are too shy to complete a problem on the whiteboard are more willing to share their work when using an iPad.

“Right now, they’re still buying into the excitement of being able to share their work,” Coletta said. “That increases the engagement level.”

The app, Insight 360, collects performance data on each of the students, allowing Coletta to instantly see the exact concepts a student has mastered or struggled to comprehend.

“I think it makes them a little more aware of what they need to do to be successful,” Coletta said.

The iPad Minis are at the forefront of various technologies that are changing the classroom environment. The educational experiences of most American adults is quite different from the ones playing out in classrooms today. Even Coletta’s students notice the way technology has reshaped their educations.

“We used to do all our work in notebooks,” said Emily O’Brien, a freshman. “Now, we do it online and on iPads.”

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Haverford School District first introduced iPad Minis to its students last year, making them available in various classrooms.

“It’s being used as a tool for engagement and assessment and real-world learning,” said Jane Greenspun, the district’s director of technology services. “It’s not all bells and whistles, but it definitely engages students.”

Jana Fitzgerald has witnessed that engagement in her eighth grade science class at Haverford Middle School. Her students have used an app that allows them to construct atoms from each of the elements on the Periodic Table. The app provides an interactive supplement to the lessons Fitzgerald teaches, eighth grade student Maya Troilo said.

“Because it’s a visual, you can see what you’re learning,” Troilo said. “You can see what is happening rather than reading about it.”

Fitzgerald, who worked in computer security before becoming a teacher 10 years ago, said the technology helps her students enjoy a subject that can be difficult for some students.

“They can relate to it,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s bringing their world into school because they’re all so tech savvy.”

Kathy Bowes, director of Widener University’s Instructional Technology masters program, said children learn “totally different” than previous generations because they have been brought up in a digital world where mobile devices, wireless Internet and video games are the norm.

“They’re more used to the interactivity,” Bowes said. “Look at what they have at home. They have the Wii. They have the Xbox games ... I never had that.”

Bowes said iPads are more user-friendly than laptops and include apps far more affordable than comparable computer programs.

“The iPads are like God’s gift to a school district,” Bowes said. “If you buy in quantity, you can get a very good price on them.”

No local school district has invested more heavily into iPads than Ridley, which provided each of its students with personal iPads this year. The decision to procure and prepare about 5,700 devices rivaled the installation of the Internet at Ridley in 1993, Director of Technology Don Otto said.

“We’re looking at trying to find quick and more efficient ways to get immediate feedback for teachers,” said Otto, who has witnessed an array of technological advances in his 28 years at Ridley. “It drives changes in instruction and gets more to the meat of the matter for every student.”

Ridley spent three years planning for the rollout, including the launch of a pilot program with kindergarten classes. It cost about $3 million to equip each of its students with iPads after receiving roughly a 50 percent discount. Parents must pay $30 per device for technical fees if the student wishes to use the device at home.

The rollout has generated quite a buzz, but Superintendent Lee Ann Wentzel stressed that the devices are merely a tool that must be appropriately adapted to the classroom. Ridley teachers spent the last year familiarizing themselves with the devices during professional development.

“It’s not so much about the technology itself,” Wentzel said. “It’s really about seeing the technology as a lens for teaching and learning. It’s a real important distinction.

“In education we’ve always had devices, whether it was chalk or slate. There’s always going to be tech advances that change how instruction can be delivered. The key piece is always going to be how that instruction is delivered.”

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Though the iPad may be at the forefront of technological advances, it’s not the only technological development reshaping classrooms.

Haverford implemented Google Drive, a free online program that enables students to access all of the documents, presentations and digital resources needed for their classes. The program also allows students to create, store and share documents.

The district has purchased 100 Chromebooks for Haverford High. Unlike traditional laptops, Chromebooks are specifically designed to utilize web-based services like Google Drive instead of software programs stored on the computer. That save the districts money on software.

The Chester Upland School District also is utilizing Chromebooks to boost the number of laptop carts available to its high school and middle school students. Josh Culbertson, director of accountability and assessment, said the laptops will be rolled out soon.

“So many districts buy high-end business laptops, which are great and super fast, but 70 percent of their functionality isn’t really used while you’re in class,” Culbertson said. “You’re mostly using a word processing application, sometimes a spreadsheet application. It needs access to the web. A netbook or something along those lines is amply sufficient for most of what students need to do.”

Chester Upland administrators also are emphasizing various web-based programs to supplement instruction at home. Through a partnership with the American Reading Company, Chester Upland students have access to various eBooks. By stressing reading, Chester Upland anticipates student performance rising across the board, Deputy Superintendent Tamara Thomas-Smith said.

“We know as educators that literacy filters itself through all the different content areas, whether you’re doing math, science or social students,” Thomas-Smith said. “So, we’re putting a lot of our energies and efforts behind getting everyone literate and making sure our reading program is really strong. We have a strong connection with our reading program and technology.”

Chester Upland also seeks to upgrade its parent portal, an online service that allows parents to more closely monitor the academic progress of their children, to include more detailed information.

Perhaps the biggest challenge with implementing the latest technology is the cost. Technology seemingly advances at an exponential rate, pressuring educators to adapt their classrooms to the world around them.

“It is very difficult for schools to keep up with that and to sustain it, to be frank,” Haverford’s Greenspun said. “It’s a challenge every day. Those of us who are in technology, we see that change. Financially, it is a burden to meet that demand.”

That burden is particularly felt in urban districts like Chester Upland, where finances are especially tight.

“I think the biggest road block is finances,” Thomas-Smith said. “Technology changes. By the time you buy the computer from the store, they’re making something else that’s faster (and) holds more memory.”

Chester Upland is examining the possibility of purchasing iPads for classroom use, an advancement Thomas-Smith gladly would welcome.

The world is filled with mobile devices promising instant results and technology providing enhanced interactivity. It’s how children learn at home, Thomas-Smith said, and schools must match that.

“That’s what our kids are exposed to,” she said. “We have to really speed up what we’re doing to look like what they’re doing.”

About the Author

John Kopp is a reporter for the Delaware County Daily Times, who covers state and county politics. Follow him on Twitter @DT_JohnKopp Reach the author at jkopp@delcotimes.com
or follow John on Twitter: @DT_JohnKopp.